


Führe mich, halte mich

by tortimandi



Category: Rammstein
Genre: Alternate Universe, Developing Relationship, Falling In Love, Fluff, Forests, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nature, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 18:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20698199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tortimandi/pseuds/tortimandi
Summary: Paul is a famous fashion photographer who got bored by the city life and needs some change. He came to visit his old friend Till, who lives on beautiful village, in search of some inspiration. Richard is a lonely forest ranger with scars of the past. Will their paths cross?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love nature and I love Rammstein so why not to write such au? It's just a beginning and honestly I don't know how it'll develop (although of course I have some ideas and drafts written already) but well, we'll see! During writing this I imagined guys at least 10 years younger than they're right now by the way.

Paul woke up with a headache and a small hangover. He lay for a moment not knowing really where he is. 'Ah right, I'm at Till's place' he reminded himself. He came to visit his old friend yesterday. Till lived far away from Berlin, on picturesque village, by the lake, surrounded by forests. Place like that wasn't really Paul's thing, he rather prefers cities but lately he got really bored by Berlin and his own life. He just felt like he needs some change for a moment and Till wanted him to visit his place for a long time so he didn't hesitate anymore and just came to him. When he came, he was really amazed by the beautiful views and knew that he's going to take a lot of great pictures here. He finally got out from bed and took a quick shower. He went downstairs to the kitchen and made himself some coffee and went out on the porch. He could see Till sitting on the pier close to his house, with a fishing rod. 'At least he has his clothes on now' Paul thought. He had memories from the night before, where slightly drunk Till started fishing completely naked. Till went out from the pier and started going to the house. 

"Good Morning Till." Paul said with a lazy smile. 

"Hi sleeping beauty, meanwhile when you were sleeping nicely I was able to catch these beasts." He pointed at almost full bucket of big fishes in his left hand. Paul rolled his eyes. 

"And? It's your fault, you were the one who was pouring me those all drinks yesterday and anyway I'm not a big fan of fishing and you know that." 

"You're also not a big fan of country life but still you're here." Till grinned. 

"Yeah so? I told you that I needed some change of environment and anyway it's really pretty here." 

"Ha! I told you but you still refused to come here, by the way do you have any plans for today or do you plan to sit whole day on your butt here?" Till said when he entered house and was going to the kitchen. 

Paul followed him with his cup of coffee in his hand. "I don't know, I was thinking about going to one of the near forests you have here, for a walk. It's been awhile since I took any landscape pictures, besides those ones I managed to take yesterday, of lake already." Paul replied. 

"Good idea, forests here are really beautiful and there's a lot of animals but I won't be able to go with you today, I have to go to the town and do some bigger shopping and I thought that maybe you could go together with me." 

"Nah, I'm not really in a mood for any shopping and anyway I can go alone." Till raised an eyebrow. 

"Alone? Are you sure? You don't know area and you can easily get lost in these woods. I don't want to somebody find your body partly eaten by wolves or something." 

"Jeez man, don't be so dramatic. I'm not a small kid and it's not like the first time I'll go somewhere alone. I know directions and anyway I won't go far so don't worry." Till sighed. 

"Okay if you're sure" he said hesitantly. "But as you said, don't go too far and be careful." 

"Yes mother, I promise." Paul grinned. 

====

Later that day after Paul ate a decent breakfast and drank second cup of coffee, he went for a walk to the woods. He took camera and also some sandwiches and tea in case he got hungry meanwhile. He didn't plan to walk for a long but still it's better to have something more with yourself. He inhaled the fresh air and breathed out blissfully. The air was so different than in a city. He remembered when he was a kid, he sometimes visited his uncle who lived in the countryside. The air was as fresh and good as then. Paul smiled at his memory and moved ahead. Whenever he saw something interesting, he took a picture. He managed to take a pic of a big deer which was standing in the bushes and later slowly went on, of big trees which were majestically standing as if they were guarding this mysterious forest that looked like straight from a fairy tale story. Paul really missed nature. He was bored by things and people he usually was taking pictures of. His job was to take pictures for fashion magazines and various companies. That was a well paid job and he didn't rather complain but people he worked with were often really irritable and he was definitely tired of that. And nature is the place where he first started taking pictures. When he was a teen and got his first camera, he was taking pictures of things like that, of the trees, of the birds etc. Sometimes it's nice to get back to your roots. After some time of walking he felt quite hungry as hasn't had his lunch yet so he took out one of his sandwiches and sat on the grass by the tree. After he has eaten, he decided that it's time to go back. He was pretty tired and didn't want Till to worry about him. He then realized that he doesn't know which path he went here. 'Fuck, it was this way, right?' He thought. After walking for around twenty minutes he realized that he is again in the same place he was before. "No fucking way, I couldn't be lost, fucking hell" he said frustrated to himself. Suddenly images of wolves Till was talking about, attacking him in the middle of the forest appeared in his mind. 

"Is something wrong?" Suddenly someone's voice startled him. Paul immediately turned around to see who's talking. There was standing a man and Paul was a little caught off guard by the guy's looks. 

He was tall and dark with a bit spiked hair, around Paul's age. He was wearing a green shirt that hugged his broad shoulders along with black suspenders, pants and boots. His shirt only emphasized his beautiful green-blue eyes. He had strong-looking hands with nice, long fingers. This man was probably the most handsome man he ever seen, Paul thought. He could easily be a model for some big fashion company. He then noticed that this dude was still waiting for his answer. Paul snapped out from his thoughts and cleared throat a bit embarrassed. 

"Uh yeah, I think so" Paul said slowly. "I think I got lost." Man looked at him concerned and nodded. 

"I thought so." 'What this dude is doing alone in the woods' Paul thought. 'What if he's some psycho serial killer hunting for its victims in forests?' He didn't really care at the moment, he definitely preferred to be killed by such handsome dude than eaten by some wild animal. "You're not a local, are you? I'd remember if I'd seen you here before." 

"No, I'm not a local. I'm from Berlin and came here to visit my friend." He stuttered. 

"Oh? What's his name? Maybe I know him." Man asked. 

"Till Lindemann." Paul shortly answered. 

"Ah! Till!" Man responded with a knowing expression. 

"Wait, do you know him?" Paul asked surprised. 

"Yes, we know each other since he moved here." Stranger smiled. 

"I'm Richard by the way. Richard Z. Kruspe." He smiled a bit shyly and reached out his hand for the Paul to shake. "I'm a local forest ranger." Paul took his hand a bit surprised to hear it and was glad to feel Richard's firm handshake. 

"Nice to meet you Richard, I'm Paul Landers." Paul said with a grin and Richard smiled even more. 

They awkwardly parted their hands and tall man cleared his throat. 

"Well, as you're lost and I know where Till lives, I can lead you back to his place." Richard offered. 

"Can you? Won't be it a problem for you?" Paul said hesitantly. 

"No, of course not." Richard said with a smile. "It's partly my job to help anyone if they get lost here and especially if this someone is my friend's friend." Paul breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Okay, I guess so. Thanks." 

"You're welcome. Anyway, what do you do here alone, Paul? Till just so easily let you go here alone, especially if you're not from here?" Richard asked meanwhile when they were walking. 

"No, not really but I just promised that I won't go too far into the woods and yeah, that's it." He said slightly embarrassed. Taller man smiled amused. "And I wanted to keep that promise of course. It's just, it was a really long time since I was last time in any place like that and it's really beautiful here and I haven't noticed even how long I was wandering." Paul chuckled shyly at himself. 

"Oh yes, I feel you. These forests are quite fascinating and beautiful." Paul nodded and grinned. "Were you doing any pictures?" He pointed to Paul's camera. 

"Oh yeah, I was. I'm a photographer." Paul smiled shyly. 

"That's great! There's a lot of great places where you can take really good pics." Richard explained. "I can show you some someday, if you want of course." Richard offered shyly. 

"That'd be really nice, thanks for an offer though." Paul smirked. Thoughts of Richard showing him something excited him. 

"Okay, we're pretty close already, I don't want to part that quickly but sadly I still have some work to do and it's getting darker and I can see the lake and Till's house already so further you can go alone I think." After some time of walking and chatting Richard said with a slightly sad tone as if he really didn't want to part with Paul. 

"No problem, you already helped me a lot and thanks to you I won't be a dinner for any wild animal tonight." Paul said amused and Richard laughed. "Yep and you're welcome again. Well it was really nice meeting you Paul. I'm sure I'll see you around again sometime. Say hello to Till from me." 

"I will! Bye." Paul said as Richard smiled and went in the opposite direction and waved once again his hand to Paul. 

Paul really hoped that he'll be able to see this mysterious and handsome ranger again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not quicker updating, I haven't had much of a time lately and kinda forgot about it. It was in my drafts for a long time so decided to post finally another chapter. Anyway I hope it won't bore you all out too much and that you'll hopefully enjoy it of course. I'd love to see comments, what do you think about it as far and if I should even continue it haha.

After a long day Richard entered his wooden cabin. That was quite a hard day for him and the only things he wanted right now was shower and his comfy bed. Luckily he didn't have to deal with any poachers today, they were the biggest pain in the ass. He took off his hat and sat on the couch with a sigh. Somehow his memory kept coming back to this man he found in the forest. His name was Paul, Richard reminded himself and caught himself also thinking that he looked quite cute but still handsome. He was a bit shorter than Richard and had short brown hair with silver earring in each ear. His eyes were grey-blue and his smile was so bright and beautiful. There was something in man's eyes and smile, something quite innocent that almost screamed that he was a trustworthy person. Richard was confused at his string of thoughts. He wasn't usually attracted to men and he didn't trust easily anyone either. There was before only one man in his life and he rather regretted it. He was then young and stupid and was involved with a lot older man. It ended pretty badly and Richard promised himself that he won't be with a man again. It wasn't really that hard as he was into women as well and he didn't meet many men he was attracted to, over the years. But there was something in this man, something that made him feel like he hadn't felt for years. Richard sighed and shook his head at himself. He was definitely too tired for these thoughts right now. 

\-- 

It was morning and Paul was eating breakfast together with Till. Paul caught himself thinking about this ranger again. He was glad that he met him, if not he, Paul didn't know if he'd be right now here. He was really lucky that the man found him and helped. Richard was definitely good-looking. Paul smirked to himself at the thought. He was definitely his type; tall, broad, muscled but not too much and he also had a really nice ass. Paul smirked even more at his thoughts. He hoped he was gay, it'd be such a waste if he wasn't.. 

"What's this smirk about? What are you thinking about?" Suddenly Till's voice snapped him out from his thoughts. Paul cleared his throat. 

"Uh about nothing." He said a bit embarrassed. Till just raised an eyebrow with an expression like he didn't believe him but said nothing. Paul cleared his throat once again. 

"I met a forest ranger yesterday, he said that his name is Richard and that he knows you. Do you know him well?" Paul asked and sipped his coffee. 

"You met Richard? Then you probably got lost and he found you." Till huffed. 

"What?" Paul asked surprised. "How did you know?" Till laughed. 

"Well, first of all you were absent for hours yesterday and Richard usually is wandering deep in the woods, far away from here. Actually that's how I met him for the first time also, I got a bit lost too and he helped me." Till admitted a bit embarrassed now. Paul laughed a bit. 

"But yes, I know Richard quite well. He's a nice guy and sometimes he visits me here once in a while for a beer." Paul nodded and smiled to himself. 

"Why?" Till asked with a smirk. 

"What why?" Paul said confused. 

"Why are you asking about him? You were thinking about him earlier when you had that that awful smirk over your whole face, didn't you?" 

"What? Of course not! I barely know him anyway.." Paul huffed embarrassed. He hated how sometimes Till could look through him. 

"Barely know him? Apparently enough to notice his nice ass. I know you well enough to know what type of guys you like." Paul opened his mouth and closed again and blushed. Till chuckled. 

"You're terrible you know!" He just said. 

"I know, thanks." Till grinned. 

== 

Later that day Paul with Till went for a walk. They were walking along the beach meanwhile when Till was talking about everything what happened since he moved out from Berlin, about his carefree life on countryside and everything in general. He was teaching German at school in nearby town and really enjoyed his calm life here. The beautiful views inspired him to write also many poems. Paul smiled at this, his friend always liked to write his thoughts on paper. As they were walking Paul noticed someone sitting further on the beach. Dark, a bit spiked hair, broad shoulders and green shirt. It was Richard. He was looking straight at the lake, as if he was deep in thought. His face looked pensive and kinda even mysterious as if man was hiding some secret. Paul regretted that he haven't taken his camera with him, he'd take such a lovely shot right now, although he wasn't really sure if the man would like that but his camera surely would, Richard has beautiful profile, face and Paul was sure he was really photogenic. When they both approached him, he looked at them surprised as if he didn't hear them walking and stood up. 

"Good morning Richard!" Till greeted him. Richard smiled at them. 

"Hey, nice to see you Till. How's going?" 

"Like always, just showing a bit area to my friend. You've met Paul already, haven't you?" Till asked smirking. Paul huffed. 

"Yes, we had this pleasure to meet yesterday." Richard nodded and smiled at Paul. Till raised his brow. Meanwhile when they both were chatting Paul was appreciating the view of the man standing before him. He was wearing green shirt like yesterday but a bit darker this time. Three unbuttoned buttons of his shirt caused that his chest was a bit visible and Paul really enjoyed that view. Paul also noticed that taller man was wearing jeans this time which were a bit tight and only emphasized his great ass. Paul gulped. How it was possible to look that good? It was not fair.. 

"Paul are you even listening?" Suddenly he heard Till. 

"Huh, what?" He cursed himself. Richard smirked. 

"I said that I won't have too much of time soon as tomorrow is Monday and obviously I'll have to go back to work and knowing you, you'll want to wander a bit around, won't you?" 

"Yeah I think so and?" 

"And I'm talking that Richard can obviously show you a bit of area. He knows this place even better than me and I don't want you to walk around alone." Paul rolled his eyes at how Till was worrying about him but he admitted that he'd love to Richard show him something. 

"Will it be a problem with you Richard? If I'm asking for too much, say that but you know I trust you and you know these surroundings the best." Richard shook his head with a smile. 

"Of course it won't be any problem, it can be pretty boring sometimes here so I'll gladly greet some companion." He smiled at Paul and Paul grinned at him. Richard smiled then even wider, he really loved shorter man's smile, it was so contagious. Till raised a brow at thier exchange. Then suddenly a phone rang and the moment was gone. Richard cleared his throat "excuse me," and picked it up. 

"Hey Olli, what's up?" He sighed. "Again poachers? Okay, I'm going, see ya." He hung up. 

"Sorry guys but I have some work to do, it was really nice talking with you. I'll see you around." He smiled once again at them, put on a hat he held whole time in his hands and looked at Paul once again with a small smile and wandered off into the woods. Paul was looking whole time at his figure until he was totally invisible. 

"It was quite strange." Till suddenly said. 

"Huh what? Why?" Paul said confused. 

"That Richard was so smiley with you, he isn't usually like that with anyone. Even with girls I saw him with, he never was like that. Then suddenly he sees you and he practically beams. Strange." 

Paul couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy at the mention of Richard with some girls. Of course guy like him probably wasn't gay, Paul didn't have much of a luck with such good looking men lately and now probably won't be different, he thought. He frowned and huffed. "He probably was in a good mood or something." 

"Maybe but you definitely were, man, if you could you would throw yourself at him. You were staring." Till teased. 

"I was not." Paul mumbled embarrassed. Of course Till noticed. 

"You were and you damn know it." Paul huffed.

-

Next day Richard drove to Till's place, he was going to meet Paul there and take him to show a bit of area. Richard was quite curious about this guy, he seemed pretty nice as far. He thought also that he could feel some kind of tension between them, both the first time and the second when they met, like there was some sort of connection between them. Strange. He usually never felt like that. He stopped his car close to Till's house and went there. There wasn't Till's car anywhere so probably he was at work right now. Richard knocked on the door with hope that he wasn't too early. There was no reply so He knocked more few times a bit louder.

"Coming." He could hear Paul's deep voice and smiled a bit to himself. Doors flung open and Richard was a bit taken a back by the view. Paul wore only jogging pants and was shirtless. His hair were a bit wet and messed up as if he just got out from a shower. Richard couldn't help but look the man up and down. It was obvious that Paul was an owner of a really nice body, lean but still with some visible muscles. There were too some visible freckles on his arms which was rather cute. And those tattoos, honestly Richard thought they looked really hot on this man.

"Oh hey Richard, nice to see you." Paul said and it reminded Richard why he came here.

"Hi Paul, I hope I'm not disturbing."

"No, of course not. I just got out from shower so sorry that I'm wearing so little." Paul blushed and smiled a bit. Richard found it cute. "Anyway, come in, please. Maybe you want coffee or something to drink. I was just going to make some for myself." Richard followed Paul to kitchen and couldn't help but check out Paul's ass and it was indeed a nice ass. He tore out embarrassed his eyes from this view quickly at this thought, what was wrong with him today? He cleared his throat.

"Coffee will be fine. Thanks."

"Just one minute though, I'm gonna wear something." Paul went to his room and took out first better shirt. He didn't expect Richard that early but he guessed that 9 in the morning wasn't really that early hour for a ranger. Richard was wearing today all black. Black shirt with a bit rolled up sleeves and black hat on his head together with black pants and belt and black leather boots. He looked like some sort of a goth cowboy, Paul loved it. Paul came back to kitchen not shirtless anymore, with grey t-shirt on and Richard kinda missed the view of Paul's chest. 'Damn it, it's just a normal guy. Get a grip Reesh.' Richard thought.

"So what coffee do you like? I don't like mine too strong so I'm asking." Paul said with a smile and Richard smiled at that.

"Black as midnight on a moonless night if that's possible." He grinned.

"Oh whoa! Good that I asked, you wouldn't be a fan of my usual." Paul said amused. Richard laughed. "So what are you gonna show me today?" Paul asked while making coffee. Richard took off his hat and slowly let his finger through his hair, Paul found this gesture hot.

"I was thinking about showing you some spots in forest, y'know. Like there's that brook there and it looks really great and photogenic I'm sure too and there are coming many animals for water anyway. It's really pure place, like people aren't really walking around there so it's totally pure, not destroyed by humanity, this whole forest in general isn't and it's great, really amazing, y'know. In general over the years a lot of forests were felled in Germany and it's awful in my opinion, not only because people like me lost their job but also animals lost their natural home. We're really lucky that this forest is pretty untouched by people. " Paul smiled at how Richard got kind of excited at talking about it and how he cared about environment, he really liked it. Paul liked when people are passionate about something and that Richard certainly is. 

"Besides it, I wanted to show you some places by the lake too." Paul grinned and nodded.

"Sounds great." He handed Richard his coffee. Richard took it with a smile and sipped.

"It's perfect, black as I described earlier. Thanks." They both grinned. "Good, I'm glad."

Later they both were walking through the forest and chatting. Richard was talking about surroundings and everything in general, Paul was taking pictures and talked some too. They found out that they had many things in common as for example very similar music taste or that Richard also lived in Berlin once.

"Really? Why did you move on?" Paul asked at that revelation.

"I lived there shortly. I was born in Wittenberge and as a teen was really bored by it so I moved on to Berlin. I worked in a various professions, at stores, at pubs etc. I didn't really have my own place until I met a guy who was a forest ranger already, he got me into that." Richard said with a sad smile, there was some nostalgic expression on his face and Paul knew that man didn't say him everything.

"You were bored in Wittenberge and here you are now, walking around woods whole days." Paul said amused and Richard chuckled. "Forgive me for saying so but you don't really look like a forest ranger." Richard laughed.

"Well, there's some truth in that. I mean, it isn't what I imagined myself doing but I quite enjoy this. Here I am really close to the nature, I can clear my mind. It relaxes me, the sound of the wind touching leaves of the trees, singing birds. It's all really nice if you learn to enjoy it." Paul nodded with a smile.

"But wait." Richard said amused. "If I don't look like a ranger for you, then how do I look like?" Richard asked curious.

"Well." Paul said slowly, he didn't know what to say. Say the truth that he thought that Richard looks like a hot model or..? Richard looked at him expectantly. Paul sighed.  
"I don't know. I don't usually meet such good looking men at the forests being the forest rangers." Paul said honestly with some embarrassed laugh. Richard raised his eyebrows. Did Paul just call him good looking? Paul coughed. "But well again, I don't go to the forests often so maybe I'm wrong and don't know what I missed?" Paul said with embarrassed laugh. Richard chuckled.

"You definitely don't know what you missed." Richard said and then he winked at the smaller man. Paul felt butterflies in his stomach at that and grinned. He really liked Richard and hoped he was into men as well, maybe he'll try to check it someday... Meanwhile Richard felt confusion. He really liked this Paul, he was funny, playful, outgoing and sometimes flirty. Richard felt that Paul could be a good friend but Richard also felt that being friends wasn't enough for him, he wanted something more... Richard shook his head at himself. No, there's no way that he'll be going in this direction again. Paul is a man and probably straight and anyway Richard promised himself that he won't be with a man ever again. Those kind of relationships are only problematic.  
Well, not like his relationships with women were successful but still.

"Richard?" Suddenly he heard Paul's voice. "Let's take a small break and sit for a bit." Paul said with his cute smile and he couldn't help but smile too and nod. 'That's going to be hard.' Richard thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quicker update but a bit shorter chapter this time. I focused this time more on guys thoughts and their feelings, no any fluff.

Richard was at the clearing, sitting leaned against the tree. It was a lazy day, not really much to do. As the spring was ending, the trees were planted already some time ago, insect traps done too and there weren't any new traces of poachers. He sighed. He doesn't like when there isn't much to do, he doesn't really know what to do with himself then. Richard yawned loudly. He couldn't sleep at the night and the signs of that were visible right now. As much as he didn't want to admit but his head last night was full of thoughts about a certain man. A certain pair of blue-grey eyes and a nice smile was haunting him for at least a half of the night. Richard spent a really nice day with Paul a day before and this was the effect; a nearly sleepless night afterwards because apparently he couldn't control himself and his thoughts. Richard grimaced at himself. Why the hell he even cared about this guy. He had no damn idea. 

"Hey there." Startled Richard turned his head to see a tall owner of the voice. 

"Jeez, Ollie. You damn scared me, how even this is possible that you're so quiet and I haven't heard you approaching?!" A second forest ranger chuckled. "That's one of my super powers." Richard huffed with a smile. 

"What's up anyways?" The bearded man asked as he sat next to the Richard. 

"Not much, just chilling y'know. There's no a real work to do today." Richard shrugged and Ollie nodded. 

"Yeah, right. Lazy day, isn't? Anyway, I saw you with some guy yesterday. I was standing in the bushes with binoculars in my hands, just was observing the surroundings and then you got into my view. Is he your friend? You two looked quite happy, like you have known each other for a long time." Richard blushed. What the heck. He looked quite happy and Ollie got impression like he and Paul have known each other for a long time? Richard huffed. He has known guy only a few days. Richard was confused because Ollie was kinda right, he felt like Paul was his friend or at least a good material for and especially he was confused because he never felt like that after such a quick period of time. He had trust issues and he kept even Ollie at the safe distance at the beginning when a tall man started working with him. After all he made friends with Ollie too. He was a honest and trustworthy person, pretty quiet but he always was there for Richard if he needed someone to talk to. Richard then snapped out from his thoughts as he reminded himself that Ollie asked a question and was patiently waiting for the answer. 

"Ah no, not really." Richard said slowly and Ollie raised an eyebrow. "That guy Paul well, he's Till's good friend and I don't really know him well. I was just showing him the area." He shrugged. 

"So he's not a local then?" 

"Nope, he isn't. He only came here to visit Till." 'And probably will get back to his city life soon' Richard thought as he saddened a bit at the possibility that the man probably will leave this countryside soon because why would he even stay here for longer? It must be really boring here probably for a person like Paul although the man seemed pretty interested in hiking around the woods together with him but Richard was sure that sooner or later he's going to be bored by it too. He sighed. Maybe it's better. At least he won't have these weird thoughts if man will disappear. 

"His face looked somehow a bit familiar to me." Ollie's voice again snapped him out of thoughts. 

"Familiar? You've seen someone similar probably." Ollie shrugged. 

"Yeah I guess. Anyway will you sit on your butt here a whole day or do you've any plans? I'd like to go to the town for a lunch. We don't have anything to do anyways." Richard nodded. 

"Yeah, it'd be nice y'know. Actually I'd like to have a cup of strong coffee. I feel like a sleepy shit." 

Bearded man chuckled and stood up. "Let's go then." 

\-- 

Paul was lying half-naked on the bed with his laptop. He transferred his pictures from the camera on it and was editing them now a bit. 

He managed to take a lot of good pictures that he was quite proud of. These were really good landscape pictures, maybe he could even try to send some to National Geographic magazine. Paul chuckled at the thought. He didn't really know any fellow photographer who has taken pictures for both Vogue and National Geographic. Usually most of the photographers specialized in one type of photography and he was not different as usually he worked for fashion companies and magazines but actually it'd be really cool to not be like most and open up for other types too. He wasn't before that big fan of taking landscape pictures but right now he felt like it changed. He felt really good here at this countryside. At city everything was happening so fast, people not stopping for a bit and thinking only about their work. Paul was really tired of that and felt like he needed a break from this chaos and when he got out from there he felt a relief. As Paul was looking through the photos again, it reminded him of yesterday. He had so much fun with Richard during their little trip. A black-haired man was really good guide, he told Paul a lot about area, his job and showed him many interesting spots. Paul smiled at his memories. Richard really was an interesting person and a really, really good-looking too. 

Of course Richard was damn good-looking. Paul was drooling over him since he met him but despite the tension he could feel between them he couldn't help but think that Richard was out of his reach. Paul sighed. At least maybe he'll be able to make a new friend if Richard turns out to be totally straight.

Paul looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was few minutes past noon and he still was only in his shorts. He sighed again. He was supposed to go to the nearby town and do some shopping as Till told him to and then meet with Till at some local diner for a lunch when he'll get off work. Well, maybe it was a good idea after all as he wasn't going out anywhere today with Richard and he was starting to feel a bit miserable when he was alone for too long. He groaned, put down his laptop and went out from his bed. It's time to go out to people. 

\-- 

Paul have done a shopping as Till told him to and was eating now a lunch with him. 

"So how was your day?" Paul asked as they were eating. "Good, it was quite a short day for me and you? Were you sitting on your butt whole day?" Paul huffed. 

"Yeah, kind of. I was just mainly editing my pics." Paul said and Till looked up when a tall, skinny man with glasses approached them. 

"Flake!" Paul looked up too to see a man to whom Till was referring. 

"Hey Till, nice to see you." Till nodded. 

"Nice to see you too, come sit with us. Anyway Flake, that's my friend Paul who stays at my place currently." Paul shook hands with a tall man. "And Paul this is Flake, my friend who's a local doctor." Paul smiled at him. "Hallo, nice to meet you." Tall man nodded and sat at their table. 

"I won't sit here for a long though. I have only a few minutes of break left and I've eaten already anyways." 

Till and Flake had a friendly chat and Paul talked a bit too but meanwhile when Till was telling Flake some shitty joke, Paul noticed Richard sitting far away from them in the corner. 

He was together with a bearded man which was probably a forest ranger too, as Paul guessed by his outfit. There was standing by their table a blonde woman which was a waitress. The bearded man was sitting there not talking but he looked like he had an amused small smile on his face but Richard looked like he had a really nice chat with this waitress. A woman was obviously smiling with a look like she'd want to throw herself at the handsome ranger and it looked like the man was flirting back with her too. Paul couldn't help but feel jealousy. Richard was a very attractive man and Paul imagined that whenever he was out of woods, women were probably throwing themselves at him and Richard surely was taking an advantage of this. 

There's no chance that he'd be interested in someone like him, Paul realized. 

"Paul. Earth to Paul." Paul heard Till's voice. 

"Huh. What?" Paul said coldly and then realized that Flake was gone. He was so busy by spying on Richard that he haven't noticed that. 

"Why the long face Paulchen? You haven't liked the food or something?" Till asked. 

"What? No, food was fine." He sighed. "I guess I haven't slept good and now it's getting on me. I'm kinda tired y'know. Can we go finally?" Paul lied a bit and asked as he tried to not look towards ranger's again. Till raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah. I think so, I'm kinda tired too. Let's go." 

As they were going towards the exit Paul noticed that there was no any woman beside them anymore. Men were just chatting with each other and as Richard looked up he noticed Paul. He looked a bit surprised and then grinned at him. Paul smiled only slightly this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to read your thoughts about this chapter as I'm a bit unsure about this one. Comments are always welcome.


End file.
